The endpapers show Fireworks Night at Leckhampton (Photograph by Songyuan Zhao) The Letter (formerly Letter of the Corpus Association) Michaelmas 2014 No. 93 Corpus Christi College Cambridge Corpus Christi College The Letter michaelmas 2014 The College is most grateful to Tony Yarrow (m. 1970) for generously supporting this issue of The Letter Editors The Master Oliver Rackham Peter Carolin assisted by John Sargant Contact The Editors The Letter Corpus Christi College Cambridge cb2 1rh [email protected] Production Designed by Dale Tomlinson ([email protected]) Typeset in Arno Pro and Cronos Pro Printed by Berforts Information Press (Berforts.co.uk) on 90gsm Amadeus Primo Silk (Forest Stewardship Council certified) The Letter on the web www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/old-members/alumni-news News and Contributions Members of the College are asked to send to the Editors any news of themselves, or of each other, to be included in The Letter, and to send prompt notification of any change in their permanent address. Cover illustration: Commemorating The Letter’s centenary: the cover of issue number 1 and this years’ cover, showing a corner of Old Court and the Marlowe and Fletcher memorial panel. 2 michaelmas 2014 The Letter Corpus Christi College Contents The Society Page 5 Domus 9 Addresses and reflections Sombre centenary: 1914–2014 13 Stephen Hales, 1667–1761, Fellow and Old Member 19 ‘A fabulous place to live in’: the George Thomson Building at 50 25 The Pseudo-Marlowe Portrait: a wish fulfilled? 31 Christopher Marlowe fest 34 Thinking about Corpus Christi: Name-day sermon 38 The readiness is all: Mere’s sermon 42 Ordained power: the Rule of Law’s bold claim: Boutwood lecture 46 Then and now: plants and gardens 48 The Fellowship News of Fellows 50 Visiting and Teacher Fellowships 51 A Visiting Fellow relishes College life 53 A Teacher Fellow researches access to élite universities 54 Fellows’ publications 56 The College Year Senior Tutor’s report 63 Leckhampton life 64 The Libraries 65 The Chapel 67 Chapel Choir and College Music 69 Bursary matters 71 Development and Communications Office 72 College staff 73 Post-graduates Biology in the fourth dimension 74 Mines, Maoists, Millenarianism: making sense of India’s Red Corridor 77 Approved for PhDs 80 continued on page 4 3 Corpus Christi College The Letter · Contents michaelmas 2014 Prizes and awards 83 Societies Bene’t Club 89 The Fletcher Players 90 The Gravediggers 91 Lewis Society of Medicine 92 Nicholas Bacon Law Society 93 Pelican Poets and Writers 93 Sports clubs Corpus Blues 95 The Corpus Challenge 96 Badminton 98 Cricket 98 MCR Cricket 99 Cross Country 99 Womens Football 100 Mens Football 100 MCR Football 101 Hockey 101 Womens Netball 101 Rowing 102 Tennis 104 Old Members ‘The world’s most beautiful woman’ sups with Corpus man 105 Corpus men down whisky with Kim Philby 107 Alexander Laing, France, 1916 108 Letter 108 News of Old Members 110 Old Members’ publications 116 Corpus Christi College Association 118 Beldam and MacCurdy Dinners 119 Privileges 119 In memoriam 121 End piece Tour de France passes Corpus… …and the Master completes his Tour of Britain 136 4 michaelmas 2014 The Society · The Letter Corpus Christi College The Society( as on 1 November 2014) Master Mr Stuart Laing, MPhil Fellows Dr Christopher JB Brookes (Tutor for Advanced Students) Pure Mathematics Dr Richard A McMahon (President) Engineering Professor Christopher J Howe, ScD Plant and Microbial Biochemistry Dr Ruth Davis Ethnomusicology Professor Alison G Smith Plant Biochemistry Professor Paul C Hewett(Food and Wine Steward) Cosmology and Astrophysics Dr Nigel E Simmonds (Dean of College) Jurisprudence Professor Mark Warner, FRS Theoretical Physics Dr Patrick NR Zutshi, FSA (Graduate Tutor) Keeper of the University Archives Professor Jonathan G Haslam, FBA History of International Relations Dr Christopher M Kelly, FSA (Keeper of the College Pictures and Fine Furniture) Classics Dr David Greaves Computer Science Professor Simon Godsill (Tutor) Statistical Signal Processing Professor Emma C Wilson (Tutor) French Literature and the Visual Arts Dr Hugh P C Robinson Neuroscience Professor Andrew C Harvey, FBA Econometrics Dr Paul A Kattuman Economics Dr David A Sneath (Graduate Tutor) Social Anthropology Dr Christopher FR de Hamel, FSA (Donnelley Fellow Librarian) Dr Keith A Seffen (Tutor) Engineering Dr James A Warren (Tutor) Philosophy and Classics Ms Elizabeth Winter, MA (Development and Communications Director) Ms Sarah Cain, MPhil English Dr Michael Sutherland (Tutor for Admissions) Physics Dr Pietro Cicuta Biological Physics Dr Barak Kushner Modern Japanese History The Revd James Buxton (Dean of Chapel and Warden of Leckhampton) Dr Marina Frasca-Spada (Senior Tutor) History and Philosophy of Science Dr Shruti Kapila History Dr Paul Beattie Earth Sciences Professor William C McGrew, FRSE, FAAAS Evolutionary Primatology Mrs Susan Ainger-Brown, FCMA (Second Bursar and College Treasurer) Dr Andreea Weisl-Shaw Modern and Medieval Languages 5 Corpus Christi College The Letter · The Society michaelmas 2014 Dr Philip Bearcroft, FRCP, FRCR Clinical Medicine Dr John Carr (Graduate Tutor) Plant Sciences Dr Emma Spary History Dr Judy Hirst Chemistry Dr Thomas Land(Donnelley Research Fellow) Philosophy Dr Jocelyn Betts History Dr James Riley English Dr Jonathan Morgan (Tutor) Law Dr Johannes Kaminski Modern and Medieval Languages Dr Pontus Rendahl Economics Dr Karen Collis Comparative Literature Dr Ben Pilgrim Organic Chemistry Dr Ewan St John Smith Pharmacology Dr Sarah Bohndiek Physics Dr Elena Kazamia Plant Sciences Dr Drew Milne Poetry and Drama Dr David Blunt Politics Dr Jo Wilmott Praelector( Rhetoricus, and Keeper of the College Plate) Classics Mr Tim Harvey-Samuel MA (Bursar) Dr Christopher Cawthorn Applied Mathematics Dr Aaron Rapport Politics Dr Sophie Zadeh Social Psychology Dr Jake Bradley (William Cook Fellow) Economics The Revd Dr Andrew Davison Theology Dr Rachel Adelstein (Donnelley Research Fellow) Ethnomusicology Dr Alexis Joannides Clinical Neurosurgery Dr Vickie Braithwaite Biological Sciences Dr Ewa Luger (Microsoft Research Fellow) Life Fellows Professor John PC Roach Dr Michael K Tanner The Revd Roger W Morgan Dr Peter Eggleton Dr John T Dingle, ScD Professor Nigel E Wilkins Professor Sir Hew Strachan, FRSE Dr Fred W Ratcliffe, CBE Professor Peter B Carolin, CBE Professor Haroon Ahmed, ScD, FREng Professor Sergio Pellegrino, FREng Professor Jean-Pierre Hansen, FRS Professor William Horbury, FBA Miss Diane Dawson, MA Dr Brian Hazleman, FRCP Professor Paul Davies Professor Sir Paul Mellars, ScD, FBA, FSA Professor John Hatcher, LittD Professor Oliver Rackham, OBE, FBA, FSA 6 michaelmas 2014 The Society · The Letter Corpus Christi College Dr Mara I Kalnins Professor Christopher M Andrew Professor Craig D Mackay Professor Christopher Colclough Honorary Fellows Professor Sir Tony Wrigley, DLitt, FBA Professor Haroon Ahmed, ScD, FREng Professor Oliver Rackham, OBE, FBA, FSA The Rt Hon Sir Martin Nourse, PC Sir Peter Marshall, KCMG Lord Sutherland of Houndwood, KT, FBA, FRSE The Rt Hon Sir Murray Stuart-Smith, KCMG, PC, QC, MA Sir Richard Armstrong, CBE, FRSE Professor Sir Colin Blakemore, ScD, FRS Sir Ronald Hampel General Lord Ramsbotham of Kensington, GCB, CBE Dr John C Taylor, OBE, FREng, FIPA Dr Richard Henderson, FRS Sir Alan Wilson, FBA, FRS Mr K Natwar Singh, MA Mr Shaharyar Khan, MA Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent, KCB, CBE The Rt Hon Sir Terence Etherton, PC, QC, MA Sir David Omand, GCB Professor Karol Sikora Sir Mark Elder CBE Sir Hugh Roberts, GCVO, FSA Dame Jacqueline Wilson, OBE The Rt Hon Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, GBE, PC Professor Andrew Hopper, CBE, FRS, FREng The Rt Hon Lord Hodge Guild Fellows Mr Neil Westreich, MA Mr Michael Gwinnell, MA Ms Shawn Donnelley Mr Richard Wright, DL Mrs Laura Young Mr Liong Seen Kwee Mrs Wai Phin Kwee Mr Andrew Cook Dr Louis Cheung Dr Hong Siau 7 michaelmas 2014 Domus · The Letter Corpus Christi College Domus Once more, I should like to begin with words of thanks – to you, our readers and alumni. Corpus has this year continued to record strong positive responses to our approaches for donations, both through regular giving by standing order (pushing up our ‘participation rate’ to among the highest of the Cambridge colleges) and in some larger gifts for specific purposes. These benefactions help us to meet our aim of planning for the future, so that we can offer to the next generation the fine standard of education which many of us in the past – myself included – received at very low cost in an era of much stronger government subsidy. Our Development Office (see report on pp. 72–73) maintain their successful efforts, both in fundraising for general funds and for projects, and in strengthening our links with our alumni. Our Centenary This Letter, though numbered 93, is actually our centenary edition. It is indeed extraordinary, as pointed out on pages 13–17, that a publication coming out in July 1914 could have neither reference to the political crisis of that time nor aware- ness of the approaching disaster. This year has seen much reflection on those events, and many of you will have heard Hew Strachan’s informative and moving address in Westminster Abbey on 4 August. We celebrate our centenary with a larger than usual edition, the additional costs being covered thanks to the gener- osity of Tony Yarrow (m. 1970), who has also made his own contribution on page 105. College size and accommodation The Governing Body has this year been giving careful thought to questions re- lating to the size of the College, and our ability to provide adequate accommo- dation for our students. At postgraduate level, the University is planning to in- crease the number of students by 10% over 5 years, a policy which Corpus is happy to follow. The completion of the Kho Building and the refurbishment of the George Thomson Building have given us flexibility to accommodate more students on the Leckhampton site.